Tylenol Maker to Reduce Dosage Recommendation

Tylenol maker Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare announced Friday that it’s changing its dosage recommendation for their popular Extra Strength label from eight pills a day down to six (no more than 3,000 milligrams of acetaminophen daily, down from the previous 4,000 milligrams). They are expected to also lower the dosage of Regular Strength Tylenol in 2012.

So why the change? While acetaminophen is considered safe, it can cause liver damage if you abuse it and take too much. According to the company’s press release, they are lowering dosage to lower the risk of accidental overdose.

It’s already known that Tylenol can be dicey for children who suffer from asthma. A recent study out of New Zealand suggests that giving your child acetaminophen may cause allergic reactions such as asthma. This study is especially important for parents of children with pre-existing allergies or asthma because Tylenol could make the conditions worse.

The bottom line? Tylenol can be an effective pain reliever, just make sure to stick within the recommended dosage or the advice of your doctor.

Cannabinoids have a remarkable safety record, particularly when compared to other therapeutically active substances. Most significantly, the consumption of marijuana – regardless of quantity or potency — cannot induce a fatal overdose. According to a 1995 review prepared for the World Health Organization, “There are no recorded cases of overdose fatalities attributed to cannabis, and the estimated lethal dose for humans extrapolated from animal studies is so high that it cannot be achieved by … users.”

In 2008, investigators at McGill University Health Centre and McGill University in Montreal and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver reviewed 23 clinical investigations of medical cannabinoid drugs (typically oral THC or liquid cannabis extracts) and eight observational studies conducted between 1966 and 2007. Investigators “did not find a higher incidence rate of serious adverse events associated with medical cannabinoid use” compared to non-using controls over these four decades.

Several longitudinal studies have established that even long-term use of marijuana (via smoking) in humans is not associated with elevated cancer risk, including tobacco-related cancers or with cancer of the following sites: colorectal, lung, melanoma, prostate, breast, cervix. A more recent (2009) population-based case-control study found that moderate marijuana smoking over a 20 year period was associated with reduced risk of head and neck cancer. And a 5-year-long population-based case control study found even long-term heavy marijuana smoking was not associated with lung cancer or UAT (upper aerodigestive tract) cancers.